Joseph Dirand's Cool, Calm, & Collected Style

There are people who have a sense of style that's unmistakably cool — someone like Jack Kerouac in the 50s or Miles Davis in the 60s. I think of Joseph Dirand as the interior design equivalent of coolness for the current decade. The Parisian designer combines mid-century influences with forms that pull from varied 21st century references — everything from technology to bikes to tailored menswear.

For such a young and relatively new-on-the-scene designer, this avowal of coolness might seem like a risky statement to make, but I'm not alone. Wallpaper Magazine called him out in their 2010 Design Awards (they honored his interior designs for the Habita Hotel in Monterrey, Mexico), while French Architectural Digest named him in their 2008 "Icons of Design" awards.

His rooms are minimal; usually employ a neutral palette of black, white, and gray; and have an airy, arty sensibility. Design elements that tend to appear repeatedly include furniture by modern greats like Prouvé and Saarinen mixed with vintage signage, sculptural pendant lamps, the occasional Georgia O'Keefe-style cow skull mounted to the wall, and suit jackets as accent pieces, a la Joseph Beuys.